Sunday, December 31, 2006

chess grandmasters have to pay a price for their extraordinary ability. I browsed through a copy of "The psychology of chess skill" by Dennis H. Holding and found that the average life expectancy of outstanding chess players is almost one decade shorter than the life expectancy of minor masters (60.1 vs. 68.1 years, respectively.)

Well, I guess a minor master is an IM; a few hundred Elo points below them are FMs, and then a few hundred Elo points below FMs are me. So by that reckoning, I ought reach the age of 84.1 years! I can live with that.

My friend Michelle, meanwhile, revealed in the comments here that she can't quite remember the rules of our deadly game. Now I'm no scientist, but I am pretty sure that makes her immortal. Good news indeed.

Happy New Year, Streatham & Brixton Chess Club and everyone else. May it be a healthy one, whatever happens to your rating.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Chessabit held their second one day rapid event at the beginning of this month. Jerry Bloom from Hackney Chess Club was the outright winner, with 7½/9. I finished in the chasing pack on 7/9: Second place, you might think. But alas a statistical tie-break put me out of the money prizes, that went instead to Peter Ackley (second) and David Haydon (third.) The fact I beat Haydon in the final round didn't count for much either, since the tie-break used was apparently the 'Median Buchholz' - which ignores the result of one's highest placed opponent. Ho hum.

Still - it was a fun and interesting day in a pleasant venue (pictured.) Two other Streatham & Brixton Chess Club players took part - Adam W, and James who emailed me for this report to say: "I will definitely play again. It's a great addition to the London chess scene, the organisers are great." Well, the good news for James and others interested is the wait won't be too long. The Third Chessabit Rapid Tournament is coming up on January 20th, at The Crosse Keys pub again in central London. First Prize once again is £500, whilst the number of rounds seems to have been reduced from 9 to 8. Entry stuff here.

Anything else? Well, you'll find my first report on Chessabit here, and this is my second. And don't forget The Richmond Rapid on the 7th too (preview here.) Finally, below you should find two of my games from the event - playing through them ought give you an idea of the standard. The David Haydon game took quite a few more moves to finish - but the result is already clear where the fragment ends.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

I saw this movie at an exhibition in London a few years ago, The Art of Chess: now, as Chessbase report, you can watch it yourself on Google. It's known among chessplayers for its chess content, notably Capablanca's appearance in which (not out of character) he's depicted picking up the hero's girlfriend.

It's not just a curiosity though: it's actually a good, funny movie. You can watch it here.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The hardest quiz in the world of chess made its annual appearance today*: scroll down for the questions. You'll have to scroll quite a way - the section describing the prizes is even longer than the quiz itself. Come to that, in this particular quiz the list of prizes is usually longer than the list of completely correct entries. Substantially longer.

So, while we could all pretend to have a go at it ourselves, and be lucky to get one or two correct, I would propose, in the spirit of the Kasparov v The World chess game, that we pool our resources and try and get as many answers as we can between us, much as people do with the King William's General Knowledge Paper. After which the only question will surely be - what to do with the prizes?

I would start off, but at first glance I don't think I know any of the answers at all.

So...who does?

[* = this link may become defunct in which case I'll try and update it]

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The open goal you can't miss - and bang, the ball is fifty foot up in the crowd. Six wickets in hand, three runs to win - and then, ouch: it's Shane Warne bowling, and the Ashes crumble in your fingers that very over. Or in chess terms, you're three rooks, five queens, twelve knights, and three hundred bishops ahead - and drat, his king's stalemated. You never even saw it coming.

Yep - we've all been there, ruining those certain wins. However, I promise you that you'll solve this puzzle by V. Röpke (Skakbladet, 1942) correctly. In fact, try not to.

(Of course - were it a game, you'd have lost on time.)

____________________________________________________

Oh - just one little thing extra. If you don't yet know your Kasparov Number, go work it out, and let us know in the comments. I've just remembered I beat Adam FF in the Portsmouth Major eleven years ago when we were both Juniors - so that increases mine to 5.

Monday, December 18, 2006

So, one time you beat player A. Another time, A beat B - who also has beaten C. C beat D, D . . . How long is that chain until you reach Player Z who beat Kasparov? Well, how long is, in fact, your Kasparov Number. And this is the website that will work it out for you.

For instance, Adam FF beat David Howell in 2001. Two years later, Howell beat Speelman - who had in 1996 beat Yermolinksy. And way back in 1975, Yermolinsky beat Kasparov. So Adam has a Kasparov Number of 4. Impressive!

Of course, not every Streatham & Brixton Chess Club player will be on Chessbase Megabase 2005, which IBeatGarry.com use to work out these degrees of separation. I'm not, for instance. But then I beat Antony Cullen earlier this year - and he's there, with a Kasparov Number of 6. So, my Kasparov Number is 7. Dang, I need to work on that!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

"Was it Wimbledon v Streatham, Wimbledon v Watford, Watford v Streatham, or Watford v Watford?" writes Martin about our London League Division 1 match on 30th November. "It was impossible to tell. Everyone seemed to know everyone else and had played each other a hundred times before - all very convivial, but it didn't stop the slugfest."

Well, I'll solve the mystery. It was Streatham 1 versus Wimbledon 1. And, indeed a slugfest it was. The score of that match currently stands at 5½-5½ - with only three draws amongst all that. I blogged the finish of my game from the evening here - while the match will be decided by Adam W's adjourned game.

The above position is taken from Adam F-F's game on the evening. He had black against Mark J Dubey on board 5, and describes the action as follows:

After a dull ‘strategic’ game we were both down to around 15 minutes left to complete the game. I made an error on my previous move, leaving us in the above position. Can you spot White’s move?

36. Nxd6! Losing concentration can be costly! I decided I didn’t fancy being a routine pawn down, so tried to mix it up by taking the knight (36. … Bxb3 37. Ncxb5! achieves little). 36. … Rxd6?! 37. Rxd6 Now 37. … Rxd6 38 Nxb5 is horrible, so sadly the queen has to go. 37. … Qxd6 38. Rxd6 Rxd6. Despite the material deficit Black has some open lines and threats. Unfortunately, White has another trick up his sleeve that I had missed 39. Nxb5 cxb5 40. Qc8+ Bb8 41. Qxg8 Rd2+ 42. Kc3 Rxg2

Now the smoke has cleared and White has a winning endgame, but with little time and an annoying passed h-pawn to deal with, can he convert it? If there were one more pair of pieces on the board he could ‘play for mate’, but the queen can’t do it alone. At least he has a draw ‘in hand’…

Meanwhile, Richard sent me a brief note about our Croydon League Second Team: "We lost night’s match at Dulwich. It stands 3-0 to them, but hopefully we will avoid the whitewash as Jonathan has much the better of things in his adjourned position."

Friday, December 15, 2006

"Perhaps I should just give up with puzzles altogether?" commented an exasperated Jonathan, after being stumped by Justin's very tricky post. Well, we wouldn't want that.

So - here's a brief, witty little number, that hopefully won't hurt the brain cells too much, and will entertain to boot. It was composed by puzzle-legend Sam Loyd in 1858 - although I encountered it just the other day in the ChessWorld Chess Forum.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

As a child, I would have said snowball fights in the back garden, a new BMX to race across the fields, to the mirror magic of an ice pond; or spotting a bird's nest amongst white branches, the glimpse of a wing lifting through frozen morning. Now it's more likely to mean a new pile of books I don't want to read, an emptied overdraft, and a barely-functioning liver.

Still, this January offers something different from either of those. Yes, that's right. The 69th Richmond Rapidplay has just been announced, and it will take place on Sunday 7th January. There are four sections - an Open, an under 160 Major, under 120 Intermediate, and an under 80 Minor. Rather nicely, this tournament has an excellent 4½ point rule: "if you score 4½ or more out of 6 you are GUARANTEED A PRIZE."

Oh - and it's organised by Streatham & Brixton Chess Club members Angus & Sue, amongst others, to boot. Personally, I can't think of a reason not to go. So click the above link to find out more - or go straight to the entry form here (PDF file), and I hope to see you there.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

I’m betting that a fair few people will know it’s taken from the first game of the Fischer – Spassky match in 1972.

Spassky, playing White, had just exchanged a pair of knights on d6 and after Fischer recaptured with the bishop, pushed his pawn to b5. What happened next was so shocking that journalists still wanted to ask Fischer about it 20 years later.

The genius that is Bobby came up with …

29 … Bxh2 ??

and after Spassky replied with the far from difficult to spot

30. g3

the bishop was trapped.

What’s so incredible about this blunder is that it’s exactly the sort of move an early chess computer would play. It sees the bishop will be trapped but the number of moves it takes to actually capture it is beyond the machine’s ability to calculate (the ‘horizon effect’) and as a result evaluates the position as better for Black because he will be material up as far as the computer can reach in its analysis.

In the game after 32. Kf3 Bobby tried …Ke7 and apparently this position is still just about drawn but he blundered again the move before the time control and eventually resigned on move 56.

So … Bxh2 turned a certain draw into a very difficult one. Although it had a significant effect on the game the same can’t really be said about the match. Fischer famously failed to turn up for the next game so he effectively gave Spassky a two point head start. Nevertheless by game 6 Fischer was already in front and by game 13 he had stretched his advantage to 6-3. Several draws followed before Fischer wrapped the match up with victory in game 21. There was no way Fischer was ever going to lose to Spassky regardless of how many points he blundered away.

Not much value there then but the real genius behind the blunder is finding it in the first place. It’s just so completely unnecessary it’s beautiful. I’d love to know how long Fischer thought before moving. You might have thought that, playing in his first title match, Fischer would have paused to check whether the World Champion really had just left a pawn en prise – but we can all be grateful that he didn’t.

Effect on the Game:3.5/5Effect on the Match:0/5Degree of Difficulty:4/5Artistic Merit:4/5

That gives Fischer an Ultimate Blunder Rating of 11.5 and leaves him comfortably ahead of Topalov, which is probably as it should be. There are still plenty more blunders to work through though.

On Thursday last week Streatham 2 faced what looked like a tough fixture in Division 3 of the London League against fellow promotees Wimbledon 2. Yet, we romped home to an astounding 8-2 victory. The team now has 3 wins out of 5 this season - currently a mid-table performance. But with much canibalisation going on - and Albany currently the only undefeated team - it's too soon to say that another promotion is out of the question.

Unfortunately, I recently played my fifth game this season for Streatham & Brixton Chess Club's First Team. This means, I won't be able to play for the second team again this season. But at least I went out with a good result against Wimbledon 2 - winning this game against Chris RA Clegg as black on board 1.

As Martin put it, Streatham & Brixton Chess Club's First Team got hacked up by Hackney last night in the London League Division One. Whilst Andrew won a messy game, and Adam W neatly took apart his opponent's defences, and Robin sacrificed pawns for open lines which he made decisive use of, and Angus & I drew - the tide of the evening turned in their favour on the other boards. 8-4 to them over all.

To add to the misery, I had a winning position in my game on move 14, but didn't find either of the two sequences which would have won. Here's the position.

I played 14. ... dxe4 after a long think, having rejected 14. ... Nxe4 on account of 15. Qxd5, eg 15. ... Nxc3 16. Qxf5 Nxb1 17. Qxc2 Bb4 18. Be3, when the b1 knight is doomed and white wins. Instead, after the mass-liquidation with 15. Qxc2 exf3 16. Qxf5 fxg2+, we agreed a draw. See if you can spot the winning sequences I should have played, without a computer or moving the pieces around.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Well, I wasn't looking forward to searching through my 125 unread emails to update you on how Streatham & Brixton Chess Club's First Team has been getting on. And fortunately, now I don't have to! Martin just emailed this summary around: "Thanks to a win in extra time by Alan we have stolen the match against Ilford 6.5/5.5, in spite of playing with 11 men. Well done all. So we have 2 match points from 3 finished matches. The match v Wimbledon is still in the balance 5.5/5.5 with Adam W’s game outstanding."

Amazing stuff! A big Congratulations to Alan. And also a big Thank You to Bob, who apparently provided three pages of analysis of the adjourned position - which at the very least changed Alan's mind in favour of 1. ... Rf5.

Tonight we face Hackney, who were a considerable force last year in Division 1 of the London League. Good luck everyone.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

So (since moving house last Monday) this weekend I finally drilled back together my bed, solved a jigsaw puzzle of wood to make three book-cases, and reclaimed the floor from an expanse of my stuff. Amidst which, I rediscovered an old charity-shop-find I'd almost forgotten about: the book World Cup Chess by Lubomir Kavalek.

The what by who? Well: The Chess World Cup was a series of tournaments in the late 80s, which no longer exist anymore. They were organised by the Grandmasters Association, which also doesn't seem to exist anymore. As for Lubomir Kavalek, you can read about him here; he is retired now.

Not everything in life and chess is temporary and full of change of course. In chess, tournaments and organisations come and go, but we remember the brilliancies like immortal works of art - and humans will do so in awe and admiration until the game is no longer played. And the big big blunders live on indefinitely as well - albeit recalled in a somewhat different mood.

But here, there is an intermediary category too: the overlooked instant wins, but the player won later on anyhow. These slip out of memory. Do not find a place in the anthology, or biography. I found the diagram position on page 168 of the book I mentioned, and it's an example of this. It's from a game between Belyavsky and Ljubojevic. The latter played black, and chose 32. ... Bd4 here, and went on to win on move 61. But he overlooked a sequence that would have made the game unforgettable.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Long-time chess blogger Megaskins has created his own awards for the chess world. Presenting, The J'adoubies. For a while, I was sadly quite stuck for a nomination for the "J'adore" category:

This is the Romance category. Since chess geeks are notoriously untalented, unattractive and unskilled in the ways of love, it's hard to find someone to award this to. Generally it goes to the chess geek most in love with himself,

But that changed when I found out I could nominate Kramnik.

Alright, alright. "Kramnik?" I hear you say. "Dry, technical, boring - that's how most describe Kramnik. Romantic? Hardly!" But, according to Goran Urosevic, this translates as: "Vladimir Kramnik and his girlfriend Maria will get married in Paris on December 30th or 31st. The two have met when Kramnik played world chess championship against Peter Leko and Maria came to interview him." Although, Kramnik's homepage is mysteriously silent on the subject.

Anyhow - congratulations go to Kramnik. And I hope you Streatham & Brixton Chess Club enjoy the fun of The J'ahaha, The J'adore, The J'adoubie-doo-bee-doo, The J'ahad, J'aDOH!, The J'aDamn!, The J'adEGO, and The J'adELO - which collectively make up The J'adoubies.

Friday, December 08, 2006

If - like me - your week was as busy as it gets, then I hope that - also like me - you'll be spending the rest of this Friday afternoon with your feet up on a desk.

In which case, you might want to take a few moments to solve this puzzle. It's in memory of David Bronstein, who was playing black (to move) in the diagram position, in 1965 against Vladas I Mikenas.

And if that was too easy - or you've seen it before - don't forget there are other chess puzzles scattered about the blog, too. Here, here, here, here, and here, in fact.

Don't think, incidentally, that there isn't any news about Streatham & Brixton Chess Club. There are first team and second team results to report - but all that over the weekend, and early next week. For right now, my hands are leaving the desk, to be replaced by my feet.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

David Bronstein died on Tuesday. I am not really knowledgable enough to write much about this sad news, or about his remarkable life and chess career. So instead, here are some quotes and links:

"David Bronstein was both an outstanding chess player and an excellent writer. Furthermore he was one of the most beautiful players of the twentieth century, always looking for the beauty in chess. Where Botwinnik saw chess as science, Bronstein considered it to be art. And of course it was Bronstein who wrote one of the true classics in chess literature: Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953. Enough reasons to pay tribute to David Ionovich Bronstein." - Doggers-Schaak in memoriam.

"He came within one draw of becoming world champion, and was one of the strongest players in history to not win the title. David Ionovich Bronstein was a remarkable creative genius and a master of scintillating tactics that enthralled the chess world for many decades." - Frederic Friedel, ChessBase obituary.

"In the year's I have been compiling TWIC there has only been one death of comparible stature, that of Mikhail Botvinnik in 1995. I have raked over his [Bronstein's] results and achievements without I think quite getting to the essence of why the man was so important and great. When he emerged he was to that generation as Tal and Fischer were to the next or the young Kasparov was to me. He brought something new and exciting to the game and he took that ability right to the very top and in doing so he actually influenced how a generation played." - Mark Crowther's appreciation of Bronstein.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

After winning the World Chess Championship against Topalov in October, Kramnik declared he was going to celebrate by getting drunk with his friends. I imagine that - having lost his match 4-2 against Deep Fritz yesterday - his commiseratory tipple last night and tonight will look a somewhat lonelier picture.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Well Streatham & Brixton Chess Club, I've been up for an hour and a half, and whilst I'd like to say 'Good Morning' to you, the truth is we're moving house today, half-packed, have to rush out for a van, then traverse London a few times, in order to trudge all our stuff up four flights of stairs. At times like this I start to puzzle over why I've never won the lottery, or why someone isn't paying me half a million dollars to lose to Fritz. I can easily do that any day of the week. Lose to Fritz, I mean, not win the lottery.

Still, at least Bob sent me a fabulous puzzle to solve, saying: "You asked for remarkable positions, well here's one from an Andersson game v anonymous. I found it in a book printed 1944. I have my suspicions about it's authenticity, but it's a great position. Don't you dare use a chess engine on this!"

It's white to play - and indeed, I think I just solved it without assistance. Enjoy doing the same.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

The second chessabit rapidplay tournament was held yesterday, and three Streatham & Brixton Chess Club players took part - James, Adam W and myself. A full report will follow later, since I am somewhat unclear on a few decisions the organisers made, and will be emailing them to clarify.

But, some interesting chess was played. Many of my games got very messy - especially the one that started with the wild 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Nc3 Nd4 5. Bc4 c6 6. Nxe5 Qe7 7. Qh5+ etc - and in a few games I was lucky to salvage draws from outright lost positions. I guess that's the nature of chess when the time limit is fifteen minutes each for all your moves.

Still, I managed a couple of very clean wins with white (all my black games were drawn) and here is one from the first round that shows the importance of getting 'your' opening in at this time-limit. 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. b4!!

If Fritz-Kramnik was a Human-Human contest, then game 4 would register as a distinct improvement for that first human (ie Mister Fritz). We would say that first human was lucky not to be behind - and let alone especially lucky to be a game in front - but that in game 4, he at least knew how to get a better endgame and apply pressure throughout. And whilst he must be a touch disappointed with the draw, at least he showed some subtle class that had been missing from his play in certain previous games.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the fifth game of this six-game match. Kramnik has white; he surely must go for the win in an attempt to draw the match. You can keep track of it via one of the ten live feeds here. Kramnik, meanwhile, ought at least watch out for those mates in one.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Streatham & Brixton Chess Club's second team faced a tough London League third division match against Albany on the 23rd. On the night the score was 5-3 to them with two adjournments. But when I spoke to my opponent on the phone to arrange a resumption date, he told me that his sealed move was 37. Ne2. That was enough for me to resign, since five minutes with Fritz had confirmed to me already the impression I had on the night: his attack would then cost me a rook. So, we lost the match. Congratulations to Albany though, who have been fielding a consistently strong team this year and are currently unbeaten. They look hot favourites for promotion, as can be seen from the Division Three Table.

I had more luck for the first team last night in our match against Wimbledon - luck being the operative word. After a completely unclear middle-game, we reached this position:

Here my opponent blundered with 33. R2c2?? I'm sure you can spot the instant win I had then. A full report on that match will follow later, in a separate post.

Oh, btw. If you're tired of seeing little incidents from my games (how dare you!) then feel free to send me your games for publication - or interesting positions from them.